A moment to reflect

[Al]

Greetings from the sunny south coast. As the season draws nearer i wanted to get your views on the summer for the mighty whites.

The last few years have produced some fairly unsettled summer breaks for the club and I am glad that we have, so far at least, remained a united club. It is brilliant to have the same management at the helm and to have the team as settled as it has been in ages. Obviously, there has been a major at the very top but this also has been smooth transision. Stability has been proven in the premiership and it is refreshing that we can move into the season with everyone knowing their roles.

Football wise a solid tour of Costa Rica will have done the team some good, but the recent loss in Germany shows there is still work to be done.

Praise needs to be given to the work done by Ali Mac. Having been shafted at the end of the last transfer window, quick decisive action was required this summer. To tie up deals for Steklenburg,Amorebieta, Riether and Boeteng so soon was a touch of class. It goes without saying that the clubs will be working very hard to tie up a few more deals ASAP. It should be noted though that this is not an easy process and we should not be held ransom by clubs wanting over the odds money for their players. Frustrating as this is, we have a strict policy of transfer fees and wages, add this to our recent debt free status and caution is necessary to retain that status. If players really want to play us then they should accept this way of doing things.

The youth system seem to be moving forward with great strides as well, both under 18's and under 21's impressing with good results. It must be difficult for all involved with the club in terms of getting the balance right between signing new players and giving the youth the possiblility of reaching the first team.

Martin jol has made it fairly clear that he wants 1 or 2 more players and has stated in past that we have to get players who are unsettled at their clubs. Darren Bent would be great signing, prem experience and a fantastic goal to game ratio. Not sure I believe the rumours about chattermole, although he does have one major attribute we lacked last season and that is leadership. We really needed a central figure, although Kara did this well, who was commanding. My gut feeling is jol will go abroad for this, although 2.5 mill for a 25 year old centre midfielder who has captained his club may please Ali Mac.

Whatever happens in next few weeks, this has been a good summer for us, and all the members of the management team and the board should be praised for their efforts.

Coyw

[HatterDon]

Howdy, Al &  076.gif

Great first post! I look forward to reading more of your opinions and insights.

[alexbishop]

Good post. Clearly a glass half full kind of person which is refreshing! My immediate concern is that we are two/three players short of a complete squad that can compete in the premiership this season. Whilst I am sure the club are currently attempted to source these players, I am concerned that they will not have a lot of time to integrate into the club prior to the season starting if we leave it much longer.

You are correct that we need a leader to integrate into the spine of our team. It really was missing from midfield last season. We have Brede in defence, we had Shwarzer in goal but he is gone now. Need a Murphyesque figure (in terms of his leadership and respect he commanded) to slot into our line up somewhere.

[Lighthouse]

As a South Coast wallah myself I welcome another voice by the sea. Not much one can add to the neat roundup you give. I wait to see if Jol is the man to make a squad that he built a great team to watch. I am frustrated by our lack of forward thinking but accept it could be down to problems he has had with his squad.

The times they are a changing  so I guess it is just wait and see. Still worry about our left back problems and right back lack of depth. Concerned by injury problems up front and will we ever see this magic midfielder? Plenty of questions still to be answered.